Posted on 05/07/2007 5:53:35 AM PDT by bw17
By Associated Press
Monday, May 7, 2007
Greensburg, Kan.— Paramedic Annette Gasten and her German shepherd, Greta, had a grim weekend searching amid the piles of wreckage left by one of the strongest tornadoes to rake across the Plains.
Every business on Greensburg’s main street was demolished and officials estimate as much as 95 percent of the town was destroyed. Tree trunks stood bare, stripped of most of their branches. All the churches were destroyed.
At least eight people in this community of 1,500 were dead, putting the state’s total death toll at 10. No one was found Sunday in the debris.
“Even though I have been to other disasters, this one was a lot worse — the amount of damage,” Gasten said. “It is such a large area that was destroyed that it made it difficult” to search.
Residents were to be allowed back to their homes Monday morning, giving rescuers a better idea of whether any missing residents might be buried under rubble.
Since the tornado hit Friday night, emergency responders have had little indication of how many people in this south-central Kansas town of 1,500 may be safely staying with friends or relatives, rather than in shelters.
Only residents will be allowed back into town. Law enforcement officials will be checking identification and compiling a list of people whose whereabouts still haven’t been determined. Residents must leave by 6 p.m.
Fresh search and rescue dogs will be brought in Monday from Missouri as the hunt for possible survivors and bodies continues across a landscape dotted with mounds of debris, some as deep as 30 feet.
The National Weather Service classified the Friday night tornado as an F-5, the highest category on its scale. The weather service said it had wind estimated at 205 mph, and carved a track 1.7 miles wide and 22 miles long.
The twister is the first classified as an F-5 since May 3, 1999, when a tornado killed 36 people in Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999. It is the first F-5 since the weather service revised its scale this year, in an effort to more comprehensively gauge tornadoes’ damage potential, with less emphasis on wind speed.
The Greensburg twister late Friday was part of a storm front that also spawned tornadoes in parts of Illinois, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Nebraska, though most damage elsewhere was minimal, officials said.
In western Oklahoma, at least eight homes were destroyed, several more were damaged and one person was injured. A woman was trapped when her mobile home was blown off its foundation in Seminole in Seminole County but she was rescued and was shaken but not hurt, said sheriff’s dispatcher Terry Thomason.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday evening that the state’s response will likely be hampered because much of the equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies — including tents, trucks and semitrailers — is now in Iraq.
“Not having the National Guard equipment, which used to be positioned in various parts of the state, to bring in immediately is really going to handicap this effort to rebuild,” said Sebelius.
Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the adjutant general’s office, which manages state resources during emergencies, acknowledged the strain.
“We are never at 100 percent because we are allocated a certain amount from the National Guard Bureau. With the war, we are much shorter than we would be. We have about 40 percent of what is allocated,” Watson said.
She said the state has a shortage of heavy equipment transport trailers, pallet-sized loading systems, Humvees, dump trucks and other large equipment that would be help move massive amount of debris.
Cause then she couldn’t blame Bush.
Idiot. In her rush to make Bush look bad, she’s shooting herself in the foot.
Kinda old joke..........Like NYC and NJ.............
They arent going by just assumed windspeeds anymore. THe actual EF scale is tougher to attain an EF-5 because you have to hit a lot more damage indicators.
Another “Solange Royal” moment from one of our “empowered feminist” politicans. KS, AZ, and LA all elected this cookie cutter kind of woman...the Hillary Clinton model.
Time to get serious about having good leadership.
My thoughts and prayers for the people of Greensburg.
“Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius”
Just proves if your a dumbocrat, NEVER name your child Kathleen.
You know, if the the last DEMOCRAT President hadn’t decimated the military and congress would properly fund the war, then perhaps she could have some of her equipment back. She stated that this is a “homeland security issue”. Uh, a tornado is not a homeland security issue. It is important not to mix the two. We have real enemies in both nature and the world. Our worldly enemies are, in theory, controlable. Our natural enemies are best dealt with by preparation. You can get “stuff” back. Freedom is a much more questionable proposition.
Look it up; Stafford t=is the blueprint and framework that dictates roles in disaster cleanup.
In brief, it ALL hinges on the governor of a state. If the gov does not ASK for something the gov does not get it.
In Gov Blanco’s press releases you can find her letter to Bush asking for nothing other than help clearing brush and debris- FedGov could do little, due to Stafford.
I expect the same this time, and the best counter to the anti-FedGov propaganda is to make people aware of Stafford and what it means wrt disaster cleanup. MSM will avoid even mentioning the word Stafford; if they do, their whole hate game is over.
Give me a break! How much does the state budget provide for the Guard? I bet the AG is a party hack.
Maybe you should send the governor a dvd of the Wizard of Oz.
We got a demonRAT governor because the Republicans in this state somehow never noticed that tax cuts must either be accompanied by spending cuts (as a means of decreasing the reach of government) or must serve as an economic stimulus. The legislature under the last Republican governor cut taxes at the top of the business cycle, and didn’t cut back the size of the already fairly minimal state government, resulting in a budget crisis during the last recession, and the election of Sibelius as a reaction against the crisis.
Looks like a small-town version of Hiroshima. The fact that only a small amount of people died is a miracle itself, especially at the time of day it occurred at.
Was the title of this thread "EF5 tornado wipes out..." or was it "F5 tornado wipes out...."
The media and the left are going to use this new scale to push their global warming/Kyoto agenda.
And what idiot Gov. didn’t have a plan in place with all the heavy contractors, road builders, etc to have this available in a disaster????
Here in Florida, the Dade County (Miami) LEOs have a standing arrangement with air boat owners in case of airplane crashes and other disasters in the Everglades. When ValueJet put one in the ‘Glades in ‘96, they were there in minutes.
Did Gov of Kansas think there might ever be a tornado there?
Does the term “Wizard of Oz” ring a bell?
Democrats win in Kansas because of three things, Kansas City Kansas, Topeka, and Wichita.
I don’t see how they can. This doesnt even touch the largest outbreak, or largest swath of damage. I will wait and see, the general sense I get from meteorologists is that they aren’t the global warming alarmists that other groups are.
No, there are two Kansas Cities, Kansas City Kansas and KCMO.
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